Published on: 28 February 2019


Education consultant Greg Mitchell visited Christ Church this week, and spoke to boys from Years 4 to 6 on the topic of Growth Mindsets.

During the presentation, Greg covered the different types of mindsets one can develop and how these skills can be harnessed to live meaningful, connected and successful lives.

The three different mindsets explored:

Fixed Mindset – how to make people do things for me. This is the stage where children learn how to be loved and think “Why won’t you help me, or do this for me?”

Growth Mindset – where children develop an “I can do this” mentality. This is great for developing independence and exploration, however can also become very competitive with attention seeking as children try to prove themselves and compete with each other to be the very best.

Benefit Mindset – team work is critical. Children become focused on “How do I grow in a team? No one exists in your class without the others and you will learn more when you work together and support each other.

“Throughout life boys should be transitioning through these different mindsets and eventually get to a point where they can apply to different situations,” says Acting Director of Pastoral Care, Planning and Co-Curricular (Deputy Head), Mrs Troy Higginbottom.

“To support our boys in developing appropriate growth mindset behaviours and transition into the benefit mindset and beyond, parents, caregivers and teachers can play a positive role in providing interested and consistent relaxed supervision, helping boys understand that failure is part of the game, and re-enforcing individual accountability.”

Greg, a regular visitor whose visits are coordinated by The Wynne Centre for Boys’ Health and Wellbeing and Centre for Ethics, aims to help people from schools, training authorities, government agencies and businesses, tackle a range of issues while also making the learning process fun.